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Purge: Obama gives 'the boot' to sanctions team at U.S. Treasury

Monday, March 16, 2009   E-Mail this story   Free Headline Alerts

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has ousted the team that drafted and imposed U.S. sanctions on Iran and Syria.

In what officials said marked a new policy, Obama has appointed three people to become senior officials in the Treasury Department, including David Cohen as assistant secretary in dealing with terrorist financing. "Those who were involved in the sanctions policy are getting the boot," an official said. "There is a clean slate that reflects engagement with Iran and Syria."

However, on March 12, Obama said he would extend existing sanctions on Iran.

Earlier, administration sources said the president had ordered that sanctions on Iran and Syria no longer be enforced.

"Although the Obama administration is reviewing its policy towards Iran, not extending the sanctions would have constituted a major break with the past," said BBC state department correspondent Kim Ghattas in Washington. The formal renewal of the sanctions was not a surprise, but the failure to renew them would have been.

The question now is whether or not the sanctions will be enforced.

"The actions and policies of the Government of Iran are contrary to the interests of the United States in the region and pose a continuing unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States," Obama said on March 11.

"For these reasons, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared with respect to Iran and maintain in force comprehensive sanctions against Iran to respond to this threat."

However U.S. allies are already proceeding on the assumption that the sanctions will eventually be lifted.

Obama was said to have ordered a suspension on all sanctions on Iran and Syria in his first days in office. Officials said NATO allies and Israel have been informed of the abandonment of the sanctions policy. At the same time, the administration has pledged to maintain its sanctions regime on Cuba.

Cohen replaced outgoing Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey, appointed in 2004 and who drafted the U.S. sanctions policy on Iran and Syria. Cohen was an attorney at the Treasury Department under the then-administration of President Clinton, and in 2001 went into private practice.

On March 8, Obama also named Alan Krueger as assistant secretary for economic policy. Kim Wallace was appointed assistant secretary for legislative affairs.

Officials said Cohen, Krueger and Wallace entered the Obama administration as soon as the president took office in January 2009. They said the three, who require confirmation by the Senate, had been serving as advisers to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

"With the leadership of these accomplished individuals and our whole economic team, I am absolutely confident that we will turn around this economy and seize this opportunity to secure a more prosperous future," Obama said in a statement.

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